The Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation is building a $12 million industrial park in the delta region in a bid to push up the quality of Myanmar’s farming produce and attract investment.
The park in Myaungmya township, about 150 kilometres west of Yangon, is slated for completion in late 2018, but already has basic infrastructure including electricity and a jetty.
Investors from China, Taiwan, Japan and Thailand have expressed interest in the project, MAPCO’s managing director U Ye Min Aung said.
Myanmar’s agriculture industry offers huge potential for investors but decades of underinvestment mean both yields and quality are lower than those of the country’s regional neighbours.
Nonetheless, international investors see potential. Scot Marciel, US Ambassador to Myanmar, told Myanmar Business Today in a recent interview that US agriculture was among the industries attracting particular interest from American companies following the end of sanctions in October.
MAPCO was founded in 2012 with state backing with the aim of developing the agricultural sector. it is set to open the country’s largest rice mill in the delta region this March. The K9 billion facility in Kyaiklat will be capable of processing 450 tonnes of rice per day, more than double that of its existing mill in Naypyitaw.
The plant will help Myanmar widen its appeal in export markets beyond China, which buys the vast majority of the country’s rice. It has a parboiling system that makes rice resistant to breaking.
The company hopes the plant will allow it to export 100,000 tonnes of rice a year, which would be a significant expansion; since its inception MAPCO has exported a total of 150,000 tonnes.
Rice exports suffered in 2016 as conflict near the border with China temporarily shut down a major trading post and reportedly pushed up transport costs, while China enforced a crackdown on illegal imports.
Source: Myanmar Business Today
